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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0654

Characteristics and timing of alcohol-related emergency department re-presentations among older adults requiring involuntary inpatient treatment for severe alcohol use disorder

CHARACTERISTICS AND TIMING OF ALCOHOL-RELATED EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT RE-PRESENTATION IN OLDER ADULTS REQUIRING INVOLUNTARY INPATIENT TREATMENT FOR SEVERE ALCOHOL USE DISORDER

Half of the older adults with complex clinical and social needs who received involuntary inpatient treatment had their first alcohol-related emergency department presentation within 3 months of discharge.

The study aimed to describe the clinical and social profile of older adults admitted to involuntary drug and alcohol treatment (IDAT) for severe alcohol use disorder (AUD) and to examine the timing of alcohol-related emergency department presentations after discharge. This retrospective cohort study covered the period from 2016 to 2022. Of 374 IDAT admissions screened, 37 patients aged 60 years or older with a primary diagnosis of severe AUD formed the initial sample, and 36 patients with complete post-discharge follow-up were included in the analysis; data were collected from a statewide clinical portal by consensus between two assessors and analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method in RStudio 2024.09.0. The mean age of the sample was 63.4 years, 81% were men, and mean daily consumption was 331 g of ethanol. In terms of clinical complexity, 86% had a mood disorder, 76% had a digestive system disease, and 68% had a nervous system disease; in terms of social vulnerability, 78% lived alone, 70% lived outside major cities, and 24% reported housing insecurity or homelessness. Fifty percent of patients had their first alcohol-related emergency department presentation within 3 months of discharge, and by 6 months, 61% (22/36) had experienced at least one alcohol-related emergency department presentation, with a total of 54 presentations recorded among the 22 patients who re-presented. Reasons for presentation were intoxication (30%), psychiatric presentation or self-harm (26%), withdrawal (19%), falls or injuries (17%), and medical reasons (9%). The authors note that this early clustering indicates a high-risk transition period after discharge, that structured continuity of care should be prioritized, and that causal inferences cannot be drawn because of the single-center, retrospective design without a comparison group.

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